Breakfast consisted of more cuppa, and a few croissants and cheese Danishes. Jay Dee didn’t want to stay in the area, too many eyes she said, so we took the ferry to Lummi Island—it was an agreeable suggestion; I wasn’t about to share her. Standing on the bow of the ferry next to her, watching the whales jump and surface in the distance, the eagles soaring overhead, and the way the fog hung midway up the tree line, creating a mysterious ambiance to the morning, was the picturesque way to spend the day.
Once docked, we explored the secluded coves. Occasionally she’d break the silence by mentioning a point of interest we were passing, the local wildlife that crossed our path, or a tale of the people she called hers.
“The Coyote liked to take out his eyeballs and juggle them to impress the girls,” Jay Dee absently said as she skipped a rock across the rolling tide. “One day when he was juggling them, he threw one so high that it stuck in the sky and is now known as Arcturus. It’s the brightest star of Constellation Boötes, forming the left foot of the Great Bear of the northern hemisphere known as the constellation Ursa Major...I did a science project on it in fifth grade,” she said with a shrug.
Absently I nodded; there was something almost spiritual about watching her, listening to her, just being in her presence. I liked it much more than was appropriate.
I was gobsmacked by how undeterred Jay Dee was about me being a vampire. Most people, hell, anyone other than her, would have been worried about being alone with a vampire, or would have worn a neckbrace as a reminder not to bite. But no, not Jay Dee. Without question, or concern for her well-being, she chose to hang around with me, alone, in the middle of nowhere where no one could hear her scream.
Last night, after Steffen left to tell Romeo the bad news, and Mum popped her head in to check on me, and willing the numbers on the clock failed, I fell asleep and dreamt of Jay Dee. It wasn’t a perverse dream, but I did get a snog goodnight. I woke much earlier than needed, anxious to see the young woman who was quickly consuming me. But like a coward, I sat in front of her house for an hour waiting for her to exit, struggling to ignore the Res Whore comments her infantile brother was making about her from inside—I had to turn the stereo on in order to drown him out otherwise I would have addressed it with him personally. I should have knocked on the door, it would have been the human thing to do, but I was nervous to see her again, not to mention, was extremely narked at her brother for disrespecting his beautiful sister like that.
However, all the questions I was prepared to throw at Jay Dee during our short morning drive, one which I had mapped out with help from the GPS in order to take the longest route possible so not to miss a moment with her, were quickly forgotten when she looked at me with pained eyes.
Was it possible for a narked vampire’s heart to break?
I didn’t think so, but hearing her words, feelings, and the pain and guilt she was consumed with, which had been plaguing her for years, in her hour of ranting, it killed me inside. Each tear that rolled from her beautiful eyes drove me mad with anger. I wanted to kill every person in that bloody tribe, every person who had treated her badly, made a rude comment, fantasized about her, even breathed on her. If she wasn’t so gutted, so in need of a friend and a shoulder to cry on, I would have done it and not thought twice about it.
“The Raven,” Jay Dee said, her attention on the large, black bird sitting on a fallen log, seemingly watching her, “is a hero of the Saanich and other Northwest coastal tribes. He is a benevolent figure who helped the people, but at the same time, he was also a trickster spirit. Many Saanich stories about Raven have to do with his frivolous or poorly thought out behavior that seemingly always got him into trouble.”
I nodded and the bird took flight.
“I’m sorry for going all chick-flick on you,” she whispered, plopping down on the rocky beach and continued to skip rocks across the rolling tide. “Usually I just keep everything inside and smile pretty and wave like a good little pageant princess.” She pushed her chest out and started doing that ridiculous robotic wave that Miss America always did.
I chuckled and sat next to her. “Miss Jay Dee, please do not fret or concern yourself with it. I used to keep everything inside, until I met you, and now I cannot keep anything in me head.”
She nodded. “I should apologize for that but I won’t, I rather enjoy it.”
“You would,” I scoffed and she smiled as she softly knocked into me.
“Tell me something, Nosferatu,” Jay Dee said with a mischievous smirk, “I thought vampires were hindered by sunlight. And correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t that bright ball of burning gas in the sky called the sun?”
“Ha ha, funny bird.”
“It’s a gift, being this damn funny and this good lookin’!” she teased.
I was thankful that she was seemingly in a better mood so it made me want to humor her.
“That is a complicated answer,” I admitted. “The sun does not play well with vampires, so that is true. However, there are ancient totems that are very rare, and very powerful, which allow us to play in the sun without turning into insta-ash...as Romeo calls it.” I fished my necklace from under my shirt, and showed it to her.
Jay Dee’s nimble fingers caressed the delicate iridium and rhodium ring, her eyes fixed on the large red diamond in the center.
“It is a little gaudy to wear as a ring,” I said with a shrug; that was one of many reasons.
Her large, black eyes scanned over the piece of jewelry many times, committing the crests and delicate patterns carved into the metals to memory. “What is it? I mean the metals. I’ve never felt anything like them before but I have, if that makes sense. It’s warm...really warm,” she whispered the latter.
Strange. Usually humans do not notice the energy and warmth emanating from enchanted totems.
“The ring and necklace are made from a combination of iridium and rhodium,” I explained, “which are very rare metals. Vampires have harbored what precious bits of iridium there are in order to make these totems. However, a disgruntled lover of an immortal took the findings of the precious metal public in the early nineteenth century, and vampire have struggled to acquire the metal since.”
Jay Dee nodded her understanding, her finger caressing over the family crest.
“That side is me family’s crest and on the other is me coven’s crest—the family crest is purely out of respect for me biological parents, however, the coven crest shows that I am tied to a coven of reputation and demanded respect…Toran was, as Steffen and Abby say, kind of a big deal, at one point in time. The stone is an extremely rare red diamond in a rectangular emerald cut from the Russian crown jewels; me mum picked it out from her collection. It is five carats; one carat for each century she waited for me...I am mum’s favorite.”
“But of course,” Jay Dee dryly agreed and I smiled. “So if you take this off in the sun you die?” she whispered.
My smile fell; that was a mood killer and a half.
“Yes, almost instantaneously,” I said. “The chain acts as an extension of me body, so as long as it is around me neck with the ring it is, essentially, the same as wearing the ring on me finger.”
Jay Dee licked her lips, biting her bottom lip in the process. She carefully tucked the ring and chain back under my shirt and patted the center of my chest with her long, slender hand. “Then we better keep it safe,” she said softly. “You trust me, don’t you?”
“Unequivocally,” I told her honestly.
Where in bloody hell did that come from?
“Your secret is safe with me,” she assured me, turning her attention back to the Pacific.
Bloody hell! That was a big secret of our society, one that not many vampires even know about and I just told it to some human! I am going to be in one major barney if someone finds out. Buggers. This bird is seriously kicking me arse and she does not even know it!
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
“Can you fly?” Jay Dee asked, after what seemed like an hour of silence.
Interesting turn the conversation has taken.
“Can you?” I countered.
Softly she sighed, the look of disappointment washing across her face. “No, but I wish I could. Seeing things at ground level bore me. I would rather play in the stars,” she said and looked up at the sky longingly. “Can you change into a bat or a wolf or anything like that?”
“Is the Q and A portion back?” I groaned; I rather talk about her, not me.
“Trying to distract myself,” she admitted.
Oh, she must be trying to put up on a happy façade. Obviously she is still gutted about the treatment she receives back on the Reservation.
“Not a bat or a wolf. If you must know, I am far too big to turn into a bat and much too smooth to be a wolf,” I smugly informed her and she snorted, shaking her head in amused aspiration—I could tell. “However, I can run and jump pretty well, and it gives me a soaring sensation if the longing tickled me fancy, thus I suppose it could count as short distance flying,” I said with a shrug. “Then again, you can get the same sensation jumping from the back of a moving truck.”
“Oh so helpful,” she scoffed and I smiled. “What kind of girls do you find attractive?” she asked in a quiet voice, one that even I had to strain to hear.
Birds only ask that if they are trying to confirm if they are the lad’s type or not. Does that mean she likes me? This could be interesting.
“Short brunettes,” I blurted out and instantly regretted it.
Bugger! Why did I say that? I mean it is true, however, I did not mean to say it aloud.
I had always found short, dark haired women attractive, that was until I met Jay Dee.
“That sucks,” she huffed before laughing, humorlessly.
I opened my mouth to assure her that she was very agreeable, and that I only had eyes for tall, leggy blondes with large, youthful breasts, even though it would have been extremely inappropriate and would have upset her even more than she always was, but I never got the chance.
Jay Dee’s head snapped to the side and she softly growled under her breath—that was rather sexy, to be honest. “I know you’re out there, Kite. I can smell you from here,” she venomously hissed getting to her feet and I was quick to join her.
Before I could ask, a large, snarling dark brown wolf emerged from the woods. Instinctively I went to put myself between Jay Dee and the wolf, but she pulled me back behind her.
“Bloody hell, you cannot be serious,” I complained.
“Shush,” she hissed, smacking me when I went to stand in front of her again. “I will put you in time out,” she warned under her breath and I cocked an eyebrow; that was a rather inviting suggestion.
The werewolf phased into human form, his large, dark eyes burning into me; the saying ‘if looks could kill’ came to mind.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed at Jay Dee while glaring at me.
Jay Dee sighed, shaking her head. “I had a bad day, Kite, and I just needed to take a break.”
“With a goddamn vampire?” he yelled.
“Vampire, human, werewolf, it didn’t matter. Tanis is my friend and he seemingly understands me so-”
“So nothing!” Kite snarled and took a step closer to us.
I didn’t like it, not at all. I wasn’t fearful for myself; I could snap the mongrel’s neck with one hand. It was Jay Dee I feared for. But the fear was battling with irritation because the stubborn woman was, yet again, fighting me and my valiant attempt to protect her.
Annoying, self-sufficient woman.
“Get out of my way, Jay, so I can finish this. We can burn the body and no one will be any the wiser.”
A mutt with an agenda, he must be the pride of the tribe; an overachiever of stupidity.
To my horror, and pleasant surprise, Jay Dee dropped her hoodie to the rocky shore and pulled her shirt off, dropping it at her feet. “You will not hurt him,” she said in a cold, level voice, something I didn’t think was possible from her. She then slipped out of her shoes and started to unbuckle her pants. “I’ve kicked your ass before and I’ll do it again, Kite. There’s a reason why your ass is banished to the island. You are a disgrace to the Lhaq'temish and the pack!”
“This is no way for the daughter of the alpha to act!” Kite snarled.
Wait, what? She was adopted by the alpha male of the pack? Shite, that explains much.
“You will leave my parents out of this,” Jay Dee hissed, her eyes narrowing. “You have until the count of five to get the hell out of my face before I rip your head off and shove it up your ass.” Her voice was level and detached, layered with something lethal and unbelievably sexy. “One…two…three...” she counted.
Kite snarled at her and disappeared into the woods, phasing in the process.
“Jerk off,” Jay Dee mumbled under her breath and buttoned her pants back up.
“What in the bloody hell was that all about?” I demanded.
She shrugged. “He’s a dickweed.”
Oh so helpful.
“You are the daughter of the alpha?” I asked.
“Alphas,” she instantly corrected. “My parents are the alphas, does that bother you?” she asked, slipping into her shoes.
This just could not get any more complicated if I tried.
“No, however, it answers some questions I had,” I admitted, trying to keep from making a face over the thought of, not just having to deal with potential werewolf parents, but now I had to deal with the werewolf parents, the alphas of the pack. It couldn’t get any worse, I honestly didn’t think it could.
“Sorry,” Jay Dee said apologetically and it instantly made me feel guilty for my silent complaints. “I didn’t know that you didn’t know,” she said, her cheeks flushing a deep, inviting shade of rose that made me lick my lips. “I was adopted into a very powerful family, and that’s what makes it even harder...the way the Lhaq'temish and pack treat me.”
Her pained, emotion-laced words instantly pulled me from the thought of capturing her mouth with mine which were running through my mind, and I was once again narked because of every bloody person on that reservation and in the pack who had treated her poorly.
“Kite is the perfect example,” she continued. “He thinks that he can get in the pack’s good graces again by killing you, or pretending to protect me or some shit. He’s a f*cking idiot.” She spun around, looking for something. “Where did my shirt go?” she mumbled.
Jay Dee groaned and rolled her eyes when she noticed that it was in my hand.
I raised my empty hand. “May I inquire as to why you started to get naked?” I asked, trying in vain to keep from eying her chest, but it was a losing battle. Her beautiful, full breasts were pulled high in her white lace bra, it didn’t reveal anything other than her luscious, full cleavage, but it was, quite possibly, the sexiest thing I had ever seen in my more than three centuries of life. The beautiful, lightly tanned mounds of flesh screamed to be licked, kissed, caressed...
This is, without a doubt, going to cause a noticeable problem to arise in me trousers.
Look away, look away!
I cleared my throat as I licked my lips. “I mean, do not get me wrong, me Duckie, the view is exceptionally lovely, but why?” I blurted out.
I expected her to get embarrassed, but she wasn’t put off by the fact that she was nearly naked in front of, essentially, a stranger, a vampire... man.
“Well,” Jay Dee started, and grabbed for her shirt but I pulled it away. Irritated, she crossed her arms, unconsciously making her cleavage even fuller, and impatiently tapped her foot.
Fighting the whimper threatening to break past my lips was one of the hardest thing I had ever done in my very long life.
“I don’t have very many clothes,” she mumbled, “so I don’t like to ruin the ones I have fighting. It’s easier to just start buck ass naked.”
That is simply brilliant. This bird is a nutter. She was going to fight a bloody werewolf...naked?! Americans are barmy.
“Can I have my shirt back now?” she asked, thoroughly annoyed.
My eyes moved up and down her body; she was even more beautiful nearly naked.
“I do not know what your complaint is about your breasts,” I said. “They are lovely, and they are not nearly as big as you act as if they are. You act as if you are bigger than Dolly Parton, which I can confidently tell say you are not, however, right now I am having Baywatch flashbacks.”
Bollocks. Did I say that aloud?
The brilliant flushing in her cheeks confirmed that I had.
Bugger.
The corners of her mouth twitched.
Is that a smile?
“Duckie, can you do me a huge favor,” I said, “since we are on a beach and all, and do that slow motion Pam Anderson Baywatch run that Americans are so very fond of?” I asked and started slow motion running, causing her to laugh.
“I’m kicking your ass,” she informed me with a face-consuming smile.
Mission accomplished.
“If I got you something for your birthday, would you wear it?” I asked.
Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Depends. What would you get?” she reluctantly asked.
“Something lacy,” I purred with a smirk and she punched me in the arm. “Ow,” I complained, it really did hurt. “I did not ask for a private showing, however, now that you did not mention it…”
Jay Dee hit me again and grabbed the shirt out of my hand, ripping it in the process.
“Damn it,” she huffed.
“Shite, I am so sorry. I did not mean to rip it. Do you want me shirt?” I offered, picking up her discarded sweatshirt.
“No, don’t worry about it,” she mumbled under her breath. “I’m sorry I’m super moody today. But thanks, my boobs have moments.”
I held the sweatshirt open for her and she slipped her arms into it, zipping it up tight.
“I haven’t heard the Dolly comparison but I’ve heard the Pam Anderson one a time or two, and no, they aren’t that big,” she agreed. “But being blonde with boobs is a recipe for disaster. One time I tried to dye my hair black, I thought it’d be a nice change,” she said conversationally as we headed back towards the car. “But when I washed it out, the all of the dye rinsed out, it was weird. Mom said that my hair was impervious. She was grateful about that, especially when I tried to dye my hair blue.”
“That is brilliant. I must admit that I am rather fond of your blonde hair, it does not fit you in the least, and that is what makes it work…if that rubbish made any sense at all.”
I will admit, it didn’t make sense even to me.
Jay Dee shook her head, giving me a look I had been getting often from her on this little holiday, the remind-me-again-why-I-have-not-staked-you-yet look.
“What would you like to do now, or do you have to work?” I asked, desperately trying to change the subject.
“I’ve already played hooky from school, I may as well call in to work as well,” she said with a shrug. “Why, what did you have in mind?”
There are so many options but which do I choose? There is no way in hell that she would let me take her shopping.
“Would you like to meet me mum, not me biological mum, however she is the only mum I have and know,” I offered. “I think she will fancy you…I will make lunch,” I quickly added the latter.
Her lips twisted into a contemplative pout before she laughed. “I’d like that very much, Mr. Ashton.”